Chap. VII.— B. S.] 
TREE WORSHIP. 
97 
them; trunks which, by counting the concentric rings 
of their wood, must have been in existence when 
Homer wrote his immortal poem. In Upper California 
and along the whole north-western coast of America, 
the vegetation attains enormous dimensions and age. 
Three hundred feet is no uncommon height for a tree, 
and some of the Wellingtonias overtop St. Peter’s, 
and almost rival the height of the pinnacle of Cheops, 
whilst their age is such that they must have been in 
full growth long before the Saxon invasion of Eng¬ 
land. Yet these peculiarities do not seem to have 
made any impression on the mind of the American 
Indian, evidently proving that size, venerable look, 
and age of trees are not sufficient to account for their 
worship by the largest section of the human race. 
Indeed, tree-worship can scarcely have sprung from 
simple admiration. We have plenty of people among 
us with a strong leaning that way, and can pretty well 
judge of its range and scope. The Eev. Charles Young 
tells us that from childhood, nothing in nature had 
a greater attraction for him than trees, and a giant 
tree, such as that of which the bark existed at the 
Crystal Palace, had been the height of his ambition 
among the sights of nature. To gratify this feeling he 
made purposely a voyage to the Amazon, of which he 
has given an interesting account in Galton’s 1 Vacation 
Tourists,’ and one might suppose that when at last he 
found himself amongst the vegetable giants of Brazil, 
feelings superior to those of gratified curiosity would 
come to the surface. But there was nothing of the 
kind; even a botanical interest does not appear to 
H 
